


Forgiveness

by ageless_aislynn



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:35:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ageless_aislynn/pseuds/ageless_aislynn
Summary: Harry can’t forget his rather cruel and careless words.
Relationships: Caitlin Snow/Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells
Comments: 10
Kudos: 20





	Forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> Recognizable dialogue is, of course, from The Flash 3x14.
> 
> This is just something that has always bugged me from that scene in 3x14 between Harry and H.R. I mean, I love the scene but this one line has always stood out to me and I felt like it should've come back to haunt Harry in season 4. So consider this my little AU way of dealing with it. ;)
> 
> If you read, I hope you enjoy! ♥

Caitlin quietly slipped through the crowded Speed Lab, biting her lip to keep from chuckling as she overheard Sherloque sternly explaining to Lothario Wells that no, this occasion did _not_ call for a celebratory orgy. 

"Pardon me there, little lady," Hells Wells said with a tip of his hat, stepping out of her way.

"Thank you," she murmured with a quick smile.

Normally, she would've been very happy to stay in the midst of the recently-returned Harrison Wells doppelgangers but she'd spotted Harry slipping out the door and some instinct made her follow him.

She found him in the Cortex, otherwise empty while Team Flash halted their usual operations for the Welcome Back party. For a moment, she thought he was heading to a computer: after all, Jesse hadn't been with the doppelgangers in Nash's mind and she knew finding his daughter would be his number one priority.

But Harry stopped and braced his hands on the desk, looking dejected.

 _Maybe I should give him some privacy?_ she thought. But, no, she couldn't leave him like that.

"Harry? You okay?" she asked softly and he startled, clearly not having realized she was behind him.

"Sorry," she continued, "I don't want to bother you."

He turned, waving her words away. "No bother, just didn't hear you there. I..."

She took a tentative step closer, giving a wordless noise to encourage him to go on.

"It's still a little hard to believe that we're finally _real_ again," he said, flexing his fingers as if trying to remember what it was like to have sole control of a body once more. "Nash did good."

She felt no small amount of pride radiate from Frost as she silently agreed, then she faded back to give them space. Earlier today, Nash had saved a meta and, to show her gratitude, she'd gifted him with a temporary meta ability of his own choosing. He'd given himself the ability to restore the doppelgangers in his brain into bodies of their own.

"Being in the Speed Lab," Harry went on after a brief pause, "it reminded me… Do you remember Valentine's Day and H.R. and his 'Friends' Day' with the decorations and homemade cards and all that?"

"Sure," she said, smiling fondly.

"H.R., he was going on about the similarities and differences between us Wellses and..." he trailed off, focusing on the wall beyond her as if unable to make eye contact. "I told him the biggest difference was that I was a genius and he was a moron."

"Oh," she said softly, not in condemnation but in understanding. _So that's what's troubling him._

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I was right, actually," he went on, surprising her until he concluded, "but I was wrong about which one of us was the moron."

He paced a few steps away. "While I was losing my intelligence, losing my _mind_ , that conversation kept coming back to me. And I knew that if H.R. would've been there, he wouldn't have thrown it back in my face. He would've probably tried to make me feel better about it all, wouldn't he?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but you--"

He held up a hand to forestall the rest of her sentence. "Whatever you're about to say, I don't deserve. I know it wasn't logical but during that time in Nash's head… I looked for H.R. All of those Wells, so, so many of them, but not that one."

Her heart constricted at the pain in his tone. "You learned a tough lesson," she said, reaching out to catch his hand, squeezing his fingers gently.

"Nash tried, you know? He had to call each of us by name when he restored us to our bodies and I heard him call for H.R., just in case. I mean, we deal with multiverses and doppelgangers and time travel on the regular, so it wouldn't be that far out of bounds to think that maybe…?"

She couldn't help it, she pulled him in for a hug. He straightened momentarily, then relaxed, sliding his arms around her.

"It's not your fault, Harry," she murmured, rubbing consoling circles on his back and he leaned harder into her.

"I wish I could've told him I was sorry," he said. "Wish I could've asked him to forgive me."

She heard the scuff of a footstep a split-second before two arms enfolded them both in an enthusiastic embrace.

"Aw, Hard Hat, I always knew you had a soft spot for me," said a familiar, jovial voice. "But that's okay, we're all good. Sorry I'm late, by the way. It was a long trip. Now, how about we find that daughter of yours, hm?"


End file.
